It was very early Thursday morning when Global Gold, a 580-foot bulk cargo ship moored to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3 to take on a load of debarked logs that are destined for China.
Johnny Daquisto, a longshoreman whom I have gotten to know through the years, is the supercargo on the vessel.
He saw me driving by the docks, waved me over and invited me aboard.
Never one to turn down an opportunity to go aboard ship, off I went.
But when he gave me a safety vest and a hard hat to wear, I was beginning to get concerned that I was going to be put to work.
Anyone who has watched a log ship being loaded knows how physical and dangerous the work is.
Both scenarios, I earnestly avoid.
However, Johnny was merely concerned about my safety and thankfully had no designs on putting me on crew.
The supercargo oversees the loading process.
Johnny explained to me that the ship’s holds were being loaded with three lengths of logs — shorts at 26 feet, mediums at 34 feet and longs at 40 feet.
Johnny said the Panamanian-flagged Global Gold was recently in Tacoma, where she took on a load of logs that were transported to China.
After discharging her cargo in Shanghai, she filled her holds with coal that was offloaded in Japan, and then she deadheaded to Port Angeles.
Global Gold is scheduled to leave Port Angeles on Wednesday with approximately 5.5 million board feet of softwood logs that were harvested off private lands in Western Washington.
Fishing vessel hoisted
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled Pacific Concept out of the water last week.
She is a 58-foot commercial fishing vessel that hails from Vancouver Island.
She is out of the water for a “shave and a haircut” — industry jargon that means the boat will get her bottom cleaned and painted.
Platypus also has Pegasus out of the water.
She, too, is a commercial fishing vessel that will be getting a shave and a haircut before returning to her hailing port of Astoria, Ore.
In addition, personnel pulled the propeller and sent it to the prop shop in Seattle to be inspected and tuned up if necessary.
On Friday, Platypus hauled out The Holding, a 106-foot Westport yacht that was built as a 98-footer at Westport’s plant in Hoquiam.
I understand that she is only one of two 98-footers that Westport ever built.
The yacht was previously named Galliope and as such was stretched to her current 106-foot length by Rolley Marine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Port Angeles Harbor watch
Tesoro Petroleum on Wednesday provided bunkers to Canary, a 624-foot bulk cargo ship anchored in Port Angeles Harbor that is flagged in the Marshall Islands.
Tesoro also bunkered Cymbeline, a 708-foot bulk cargo ship that also is flagged in the Marshall Islands.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts and boat yards.
Items and questions involving boating, marina and industrial activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.